Conversation on fake Morrisseau paintings spawns latest project for First Nation playwright

A Christmas party conversation at a famed art gallery a number of years ago led to Drew Hayden Taylor’s latest work.

Taylor, an award-winning playwright from Curve Lake First Nation in central Ontario, will have his play The Undeniable Accusations of Red Cadmium Light presented at Firehall Arts Centre in Vancouver from April 18 through May 3.

The play focuses on famed artist Norval Morrisseau and his paintings using Red Cadmium Light, a paint created in 1982. 

Morrisseau did use the paint extensively in the latter stages of his career, but any work created prior to 1982 with Red Cadmium Light means only one thing to those knowledgeable in art circles—it’s a fake.

Morrisseau, who died in 2007, was from Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek, a First Nation in northwestern Ontario. He is considered the grandfather of contemporary Indigenous art in Canada. He is a member of the Indian Group of Seven, which was established in 1973 and made up of the esteemed Indigenous artists of the time.

In Taylor’s play, a reporter visits an art gallery owned by a woman named Nazhi. For those familiar with some of his previous works, Taylor again incorporates Otter Lake First Nation as the play’s setting. 

“That's my mythical community,” Taylor said. “It's sort of like a thinly veiled Curve Lake.” 

The play also includes Beverly, Nazhi’s daughter, who is a respected Indigenous educator. While investigating counterfeit Indigenous art at Nazhi’s gallery, the reporter makes a startling discovery, which pits mother and daughter against each other.

Taylor said the topic of fake Morrisseau paintings has long been in the news and the courts. A couple of years before his death Morrisseau lamented that people were profiting from works fraudulently attributed to him.

“The McMichael Gallery in Kleinberg did a book on Indigenous art some time ago,” Taylor said. “And I was asked to write an article for it. I was at the launch party, which was also a Christmas party, a cocktail party, and I was talking with this guy who ran a company that authenticates Morrisseaus. And we got chatting and I became fascinated by what he was telling me.” 

Taylor said he knew the CBC had done a documentary about the topic.

“I began thinking about it and I decided I wanted to do a play about it, sort of exploring the history of Morrisseau, his art and the whole history of the forgeries,” he said. “I believe it's been called the largest forgery ring in the world in art history.” 

Taylor though was keen to also explore other issues.

“As the play develops and the story develops, the forgery story is sort of like a springboard into other issues about authenticity and about what is real and what isn’t real,” he said.

Taylor initially wasn’t quite sure how a project about Morrisseau would develop.

“I don't want to do a documentary on stage. But it's a fascinating topic and I can use that topic to explore other topics. It's sort of the gateway to exploring larger issues. So, I started thinking about it. And then, I think about three years ago, I did the first draft.”

Taylor, a successful author, journalist and filmmaker, is happy with the direction his play took.

“To me, the story is more about a relationship between a mother and daughter than anything else,” he said. “But it's about how everything else in the world, including the forgeries, affect that relationship because the daughter is an academic who works in education. And the mother and the daughter begin to have a fight and deal with some issues that were hitherto unknown until this whole article on the Morrisseau forgeries was published.”

Taylor points out that he’s known as a humourist.

“I've written a lot of comedies,” he said. “And this play has a lot of humour in it. I still believe that one of the best ways to explore a topic is through humour. So, it is a funny play. But you end up walking away contemplating some of the things that the characters and I have touched on.”

The Undeniable Accusations of Red Cadmium Light had its world premiere this past February and a run that continued into March at Winnipeg’s Prairie Theatre Exchange.

“So far, I have not had any nibbles yet,” Taylor said of other possible mountings of this play. “But it will be coming out in the New Year in book form. It will be published.”

Taylor hopes theatre goers will put some deep thought into what they witness.

“I want them pondering what they've just seen and thinking about it—who is right and who is wrong and what is the issue,” he said. “And how could this have been handled better. I want people to walk out thinking about the issues that have been raised in the play.”

Tickets for the Vancouver run of Taylor’s play are available at https://www.firehallartscentre.ca/event/the-undeniable-accusations-of-red-cadmium-light/